ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Thursday quashed rumours of a potential deal for the homecoming of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, stressing that the former premier would have to face legal challenges after his return to Pakistan.

“The caretaker government has no soft corner for PML-N or any other political party,” Mr Kakar said in an interview with World Echo News. “How can a caretaker government strike such a deal?”

He said Mr Sharif had left the country according to a court decision “under the nose of Imran Khan’s government, and not a caretaker set-up”.

However, he stressed that if Mr Sharif returned and took part in politics, he would have to face some legal obstacles. “The answers to these legal questions lie in legal remedies,” he said.

Mr Kakar said that every leader, be it Imran Khan, Asif Ali Zardari or Nawaz Sharif, would have to seek legal remedy according to their circumstances.

Nawaz Sharif, who has been in self-imposed exile since 2019, left for London in the middle of his seven-year jail term on medical grounds. In the four years since, he was declared a proclaimed offender in the Al Azizia and Avenfield graft cases for his continuous absence from proceedings.